A Child Can Change Everything

A healthy baby was all I prayed for once the issues started with my pregnancy; A miracle baby is what I received. Through the ins and outs of my son's life, I realized I wanted to do for others what his nurses were doing for me & my son. They made me believe in myself which led to a new found strength and passion for helping other. It made me want to make a difference in other people's lives. Doctors may call the shots but it's the nurses who run the show and make the main difference.

A Child Can Change Everything

The moment you look at the pregnancy test and see that the result is a positive, you're entire world automatically changes whether it is your first pregnancy or your tenth. You have 40 weeks, maybe less depending how far along you were when you found out, to prepare for this new bundle of joy. Most parents are hoping for either a girl or a boy, while some just merely pray for a healthy baby. I was one who was hoping for a boy seeing as though we already had our little girl.

At 12 weeks on a Friday, a doctor told me that I was having an inevitable miscarriage and to go home and rest because there was nothing they could do. I was instructed to make an appointment with my OB for Monday and I did as I was told. The OB ordered an ultrasound STAT and performed it himself. There on the screen was our precious baby still alive and swimming around inside me

After that mishap my perspective changed and all I could hope for was that my baby was healthy. The pregnancy continued well after that with the exception that I was huge rather quickly for no apparent reason considering nausea was occurring 24/7.

At 29 weeks I went in for an unplanned visit due to some irregular pains, only to find out I was dilated and in premature labor and had very high amniotic fluid levels. It took over a week to keep my labor at bay well enough to move me out of the labor room and into a regular room. It took another two weeks of bed-rest in the hospital before i was able to leave and be with my 2 year old daughter; unfortunately I wasn't able to go home because I would be too far away from the hospital so we stay at one of the hospitality houses with me on strict bed-rest.

Almost a week went by, putting me at 33 weeks, and I woke abruptly in the middle of the night because my water broke. Within 4 1/2 hours my beautiful son had entered the world and was being whisked away to the ICU. He was found to have a condition known as Tracheal Esophageal Fistula (TEF) & Esophageal Atresia (EA). Automatically I knew he would need to be transferred to a different hospital to receive the proper medical attention he would need.

At two days old my son received a major surgery to repair the TEF & EA, and within a couple of hours, he was back in the OR having emergency surgery to repair a hole in the back of his trachea caused by his ET Tube. Part way through the surgery my son went into complete cardiac arrest and died on the table, the doctor said they were trying everything they could, and managed to save him, but if it had been a matter of seconds more, then he wouldn't have made it.

My son continued to have many problems and still does to this day. He was on a ventilator for over two month, coded twice, stopped breathing multiple times, required oxygen, has chronic lung disease, had a tracheostomy and requires a feeding tube. I was unable to hold him until he was 6 weeks old and unable to touch him for the first 3 weeks of his life in which he was kept paralyzed. He was in the NICU for the first 5 months of his life and has been in and out many times ever since. He is a year and a half now and has had more than 14 surgeries.

Due to all these events in my life, I met some amazing people, but what helped keep me strong through everything was his nurses. They made such an impact on our lives, and it made me reconsider what I wanted to do with my life. Watching them every day through the ups and downs made me realize that I have the strength I never thought possible and that I want to make a difference in other people's lives just as they did for me.

My son is doing much better now, still has a lot going on but we have adjusted accordingly, and it became clear to me that it was time to start college for nursing. I will be starting in Fall of 2012 and I'm pretty excited. I have my son & his nurses to thank for the path I am taking.

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Takdbrown

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I just want to say, AMAZING! God Bless you and your family.

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I would love to hear how your son is doing, and how starting school has been going for you! Your story is very inspiring, and reminds me why I am choosing this path for my family and me. God bless you and your family!! Thank you for sharing your story!

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God bless you, your son, and your family. :saint:

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I noticed that some are wondering how things are going. My schooling started on August 27th and is a lot more than I expected. On top of my own two children I have taken on watching my newborn & 5yr old niece. the homework load is extreme but I must say that I am glad to be doing what I am doing. I just need to balance better.

My son is doing okay. We are looking at the possibility of two different surgeries coming up. One involves his vocal cords and the factor that they are paralyzed and the opening isn't very big so it makes him have breathing issues and since the nerves aren't seeming to be returning they are thinking surgery is needed. The second surgery may be for his reflux yet again. He has already had two stomach wraps (Nissen Fundoplications) and the first one was too loose and this one he just had in May is intact but he is refluxing straight through it. He is till a very happy boy and he is still progressing quite well in other aspects. He is now army crawling everywhere and he will take steps so long as we are holding both his hands.

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Thank you for sharing with us your experience. God bless you, your son and your family!

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My god! That is truly an inspiring story. That's exactly why I want to be a nurse. I have already taken both my A&P classes and as I'm reading, I could figure out just a little bit, physiology wise, of what was going on with your son. For example, you mentioned his vocal cords. There are false vocal cords (ventricular cords) that are superior to his true vocal cords that make sound for speech. Since those are connected inferiorly or partially inferior to the cricoid cartilage, I was thinking was it his cricoid cartilage that's actually damaged or the lingual muscles which I believe are responsible for the flexes of the vocal cords damaged or abnormally narrowed? And there's other things like those stomach staples here received. I instantly knew what that was when I seen the word "fund" in the whole name. "fund" is the root word in fundus (excuse my spelling) meaning the layer that makes up the inner stomach. And there's much more! Good luck to you and your endeavors as I hope to make a positive Impact in someone's life like you have.

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That's why I'm becoming a nurse to have a positive impact on people. And when you get into the core of A&P 2, you will understand what is exactly going on with your son. A&P one is obviously just the basics and knowing what is where and what does that where do what. But that simple concept will help you understand A&P II much better.

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wow... thanks for sharing your story with us. That's exactly why I want to be a nurse. I would love to work with children going through cancer. I have an aunt who's 41 now she decided to change her business major 2 years ago for nursing after giving birth to a premature baby. The nurses were her inspiration just like you. She will graduate this December. Good luck with everything and God Bless you and your family! What are the classes you're taking this semester?

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That is such an unbelievably inspiring story! You're kids sure have a great mom!

I knew I wanted to be a nurse since I was 12 but I didn't put the plan in motion until I had two infant nephews die at 5 days old and 6 weeks old, and then my 8 week old son almost died all within a 6 month time frame. 2 of those (my 5 day old nephew and my son) were due to negligence on the medical personals part.

Experiences like this can either make you or break you. And you obviously let it make you!

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